Open Flame

Summary: I knew in that instant exactly how Sam felt when he saw Emily, exactly how Jacob felt when he saw Renesmee, exactly how Quil felt when he saw Claire. There were thoughts I had never known rushing through my head, from thoughts of a friendly nature, to thoughts of a passionate nature and everything in between. She drew me like an open flame drew a pyromaniac; and curiously, wonderfully, lovingly and lustfully, I had to follow her. I had to touch that open flame. Seth Clearwater comes back from college for Leah's wedding, and the gang gets back together. But when his car breaks down on the side of the road, a very beautiful, engaged young woman comes to the rescue. Can Seth vy for the attentions of his imprint and successfully win her? Author's Note: This fanfiction will be complete once the twelfth chapter is added! Thank you everyone for your support and reviews!

8. Eight - The Visitors

I was up with Carlisle until late that evening. He was better than any professor I had ever had.

“Don’t you need sleep?” he asked after we finished yet another chapter from my microbiology book.

I glanced at the clock, which read 1:01, and shrugged. “It’s overrated.”

Carlisle shot me a fatherly look that could have rivaled my own Dad’s any day of the week when he was still living. “This has been a stressful weekend for you; you said it yourself. Sleep is the best way to recover.”

I sighed. “All right. Thanks for all this, I really do appreciate it.”

“Good. Make sure she stays that way. She can at least stay safe in her dreams.” He paused. “How many are there, Jasper?”

Alice, immediately at Jasper’s side, narrowed her eyes a little in concentration. “Three? That’s all I can make out. They’re malevolent, but not currently violent.”

“Are they in human form?”

“No,” she shook her head. “That’s why it – ah!” she winced and shook her head, putting her hand to her forehead. “That’s why it hurts. When they’re in form, the frequency is lower than Jacob’s and Seth’s. But I can make them out.”

“Edward, is Ginessa asleep upstairs next to Reneesme?” asked Carlisle.

My heart began to rush.

Edward nodded.

“She’s the only pure human here. They may want her, too.”

I involuntarily flexed my muscles.

Carlisle nodded as though he could read my thoughts. “Edward and Seth, you’ll have to protect Reneesme and Ginessa. Bella, please come down here. We need your shield.”

I looked to my left and saw a thick curtain of gorgeous brown hair.

“Rosalie and Esme, guard from the living room, please. If the front line falls you’ll have to fight.”

They all whizzed around me for a split second, and each trace of them was gone from the spot. I headed to the room now shared by Reneesme and Ginessa, where Edward loomed over his sleeping daughter with compassionate eyes.

“I hope I can keep her safe,” he murmured to himself. He closed his eyes for a moment. “I have to keep her safe.”

“When she was born, didn’t all of you say that she was virtually indestructible?”

He nodded silently. “But it doesn’t mean I don’t constantly worry about her. Even though she may seem strong, she’s the weakest, physically of all of us.”

“Is that why you are so overprotective of her relationship with Jacob?” I asked, murmuring.

“Jacob angers me. A lot.”

“Aww, Edward, you have to cut him some slack.”

He sighed. “I’ve been cutting him slack. But the two of them think of it when I’m around them just to frustrate me. And Reneesme uses her memory gift to Jacob’s advantage, and my disadvantage.”

“But don’t you love that she’ll never be alone? That she’ll always have a protector?”

“I am her protector,” he replied, his voice low.

There was no use in arguing with him, for Edward was rather hardheaded when it came to his family. “You have to understand, that imprinting is so unique…I mean, it’s probably the best thing in the world for her.”

“I know. I love seeing her happiness with Jacob…but would it kill him to leave my family alone? First Bella, then Reneesme…”

“It was always Reneesme, he just didn’t know it. At least Bella has you. At least she didn’t go to love him. It’s best for all of you, Edward.”

“But what about you, Seth?”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “What do you mean, what about me?”

“What’s imprinting?”

Were all the Cullens obsessed with the process of imprinting?

He chuckled in response to my thoughts. “I know Carlisle interrogated you already. But, as a doctor, he’s interested in the unemotional side of things, but as a father, I’m interested in everything emotional.”

“Such as?”

“Such as…” he sighed. “It is impossible to talk to Jacob about anything to do with imprinting. All he’s concerned about is making me angry with him, and he avoids me when Reneesme’s around.” Edward paused. “So, what do you feel for Ginessa?”

“It hurts to be away from her. She is the only thing that matters,” I answered immediately.

“And you never tire of her?” he asked softly.

“Well, I’ve only loved her for a few days. But Sam has loved Emily for years. And Quil. He’s waited for Claire, and he’ll keep waiting.”

“So you know for a fact that she’ll never, never stop being loved?”

I nodded.

“So Jacob has waited for Reneesme for six years. Why? He has always seemed flighty to me, honestly.”

I shrugged. “You know that love changes a man. Imprinting alters us in a way that we can never go back. I guess it is comparable to what it’s like when your kind fall in love. You’re altered for eternity.”

He nodded, suddenly understanding. Certainly, he would know what Jacob felt like if he could equate it to his own experience falling in love with Bella.

“It is true,” he said, still nodding slowly. “But I suppose…” He trailed off. “Even though I understand all of that, I am still her father. And if traditions from the time I was human stayed the same, I would never pick Jacob as the perfect match for her.”

I shrugged. “Obviously, nature had other ideas.” But I knew he sounded exactly like every other father on the face of the planet.

Hearing my thoughts, he smirked. “I know. But becoming a father truly did affect me in ways I never imagined.”

“You-“ I cut myself off, as both our ears picked up the same sounds from outside.

A low snarling, one that I had never even head before in all my years of phasing, lit the darkness. Instinctually, Edward’s muscles flexed. I could feel the adrenaline racing in my blood.

“Where is the child?” I could depict through the growls.

“We are the Cullen family. There are eight of us in total, and two shape shifters have joined our ranks as well. We mean no harm, but we are compelled to defend this residence,” replied Carlisle coolly.

“There must be humans in there,” grumbled another one, his voice hoarse. “I smell them.”

“But what is that other sound, Shane?” asked yet a third. “It sounds like…like a hummingbird and…” The third werewolf trailed off and inhaled. “Smells like them.”

“I believe it imperative to warn you of our abilities. Surely you know we are cold ones. The child you saw is one of us.”

“Impossible!” they all growled together, their thoughts bombing my mind with a loud chorus.

“Quite possible,” replied Carlisle. “However, picking a fight with her is probably just as stupid as picking a fight with us.”

“Her heart beats,” said Shane viciously.

“Indeed it does,” continued Carlisle.

“Then how can-“

“As I say, she is one of us. Any further questions are irrelevant. Whether you chose to believe it or not, she is one of us.”

There was an incredible silence in the air.

“Our members are great,” said the second one. “And we will have no trouble attacking and killing all of you. I am sure you know that bites between our kinds are lethal.”

“Of course they are. Tell me, when was the last time you fought our kind?”

“When we passed from our homeland through to Italy. Volterra was fun,” said the leader. The others snickered in horrific laughter.

Carlisle seemed to furrow his eyebrows. “You killed the Volturi?”

“I believe slaughtered would be a better word for it. We killed all their guard and had absolutely ravishing fights with the three oldest of all of them. I believe they and their wives were the only survivors. But they fled the city, and we killed the rest of their civilization.”

All the Cullens seemed absolutely shocked that these werewolves had truly killed all the Volturi. “Impossible,” whispered Edward next to me, his eyes zooming in on the three werewolves.

Carlisle echoed his words. “That is nearly impossible. The Volturi are the strongest coven and the basis of our kind. They have not left Volterra for many a millennia, even when your kind attacked ours centuries ago.”

“You call me a liar, old one?” snarled their leader in defense, taking a few steps toward Carlisle.

The Cullens standing outside flocked closer to Carlisle’s sides, Emmett and Jasper flexing their muscles. “I am Carlisle if you do not mind,” he began, his voice even and unchanged. “And I do not call you a liar, certainly not. If you say you defeated the Volturi, I have no choice but to accept your words. However, my family is well acquainted with the Volturi, and many of us know them to be unforgiving, leaving no quarter or survivors when attacked. The fact that they fled from you is indeed surprising.”

The three werewolves found this amusing. “We left them with no quarter. And they were the ones who left us,” said Shane.

“Why such a surge in your numbers? And why are you interested in the girl?”

None of them replied right away. The two minor members looked to their leader. “The girl seems to pose a threat.”

“I assure you that not one member of my family, including the girl, has ever lashed out in offense. We act only in defense of those who attack us.”

“That does not mean they won’t!” protested Shane. “The child is highly volatile, and a danger to all who associate with her.”

“I am not a child.”

Reneesme’s sweet voice cut through the blackness. She had disappeared from the bedroom and stood next to Jacob. Edward swore under his breath and whizzed past me, downstairs to the others outside.

“Nessie, you should really stay out of this-“ began Carlisle, but she interrupted him.

“No, grandfather. I will not.” She paused and looked into the eyes of the werewolves. “As I say, I am not a child. The negotiations of my life should not become a burden on the ones I love.”

“Reneesme-“ Jake choked, crazy with concern for her.

The werewolves laughed. “What a twisted little tale this is,” began the leader. “Perhaps you are correct. You are not a child.” He smelled her. “And not a vampire, either…”

“What is it you want with me?” she asked. Her voice broke at the last word. The tension and compassion in all the Cullen’s attitudes and stature kept building. I didn’t think even Jasper could calm everything.

“Death.”

“No!” yelled all of them at once, different pitches melting together as they echoed across the street.

“You think a devoted family of vampires will stop us?” laughed Shane.

“Stop you? Kill you, more like,” said Emmett with narrowed eyes.

The lead werewolf lifted up his head and howled loudly.

“Shit,” swore Jake. He phased, grabbed Reneesme and ran off.

“Take Ginessa and follow Jake,” said Rosalie, in the bedroom at once. “There is not much time.”

I nodded and hoisted Ginessa into my arms. So much for a drama free week.